Gas turbine engines operate to produce mechanical work or thrust. Specifically, land-based gas turbine engines typically have a generator coupled thereto for the purposes of generating electricity. A gas turbine engine comprises an inlet that directs air to a compressor section, which has stages of rotating compressor blades. As the air passes through the compressor, the pressure of the air increases. The compressed air is then directed into one or more combustors where fuel is injected into the compressed air and the mixture is ignited. The hot combustion gases are then directed from the combustion section to a turbine section by a transition duct. The hot combustion gases cause the stages of the turbine to rotate, which in turn, causes the compressor to rotate.
The inlet of the gas turbine engine can also include heating devices and noise reduction devices. Specifically, heating devices can include injection devices capable of injecting heated air into the inlet. Noise reduction systems often times includes a plurality of baffles that reduce noise generated by a passing inlet air stream.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a portion of an inlet bleed heat system 100 of the prior art is depicted. The inlet bleed heat system 100, which injects heated air into an inlet, comprises a plurality of feed tubes 102 that are positioned aft of and in-line with a silencer baffle 104. The plurality of feed tubes 102 receive a flow of heated air from a supply pipe 106 that is located above the baffles 104. As such, the plurality of feed tubes 102 hang in a generally vertical direction behind the baffles 104. Each of the feed tubes 102 contain a plurality of feed holes 108 that inject the flow of heated air from the feed tube 102 into a passing flow of inlet air. The plurality of feed holes 108 are oriented generally perpendicular to the passing flow of inlet air such that adjacent feed tubes 102 have feed holes 108 directed towards each other, as depicted in FIG. 2.